Traveler from Type-Moon, Demon Lord Rimuru! Chapter 48

Ah... in other words...

Rimuru gritted his teeth, and under the worried gaze of Fou, he braced himself against the wall and slowly crawled up, attempting to walk outside step by step.

Fou can only erase the part of me that mimics a human, right?

"Yes. Although in your memories you are a descendant of the Tempest Family, a hybrid of human and Phantasmal Species, in my understanding, your physical immunity and super-speed regeneration are traits that belong entirely to a slime's constitution. Fundamentally speaking, what exists within your body is perhaps only a trace of human blood and a human soul... As for your body, I fear it has long since belonged entirely to a slime."

That... is actually good news.

Rimuru clenched his jaw. Fou's erasure was more severe than he had imagined—so severe that his constantly collapsing mimicry cells were draining his physical functions within mere seconds. It could be said that he was now in a state of near-constant mimicry, forced to repeat the process every single second to ensure his body didn't lose function due to cellular collapse.

If not for the Great Sage's computer-like calculation performance, Rimuru would have had his brain burned out just trying to maintain this mimicry on his own.

Although he could rely on his slime form to avoid this damage, the slime form was, to be honest, his trump card. In his mind, he didn't want to expose it to other magi so early, and it wouldn't be beneficial to his status—being able to turn into a slime meant that his essence had already departed from humanity, and he was living as a Phantasmal Species, which would increase the prejudice against him in the eyes of humans!

Seeing this, Fou suddenly felt a bit of regret for listening to Rimuru so easily. It struggled for a moment, but ultimately couldn't hold back. Just as it intended to go over to rescue Rimuru, four or five silver mercury blades whistled through the air, shooting toward it in succession, forcing it back while sealing off its path.

Chapter 065: Where there is a sunrise, there is a sunset; this is the eternal law of the world.

The white hound leaped backward rapidly, leaving several spiderweb-like cracks on the wall where its four limbs kicked off. The sharp, silvery-white blades followed closely behind—Boom! Boom! Boom!

Rhythmic strikes landed one after another, forcing it back step by step before slowly retracting to form a water-gall-shaped autonomous mystic code floating in mid-air.

"Cough... cough, I didn't expect..." Seeing this, Rimuru leaned against the wall and offered a wry smile: "It would be you..."

"Hmph, what? Are you disappointed that the one who came to save you isn't Achelotte?" Hearing Rimuru's weak voice, a familiar circled in the sky above, and Kayneth's voice clearly emerged from it: "However, now is not the time for disappointment, Lord Rimuru."

As the sound faded, the Volumen Hydrargyrum moved slowly to Rimuru's side and began to unfold rapidly, revealing a potion bottle inside. Kayneth said: "Drink it."

Rimuru did not hesitate; he exerted his strength to grab it and poured it into his mouth before asking weakly: "What is this..."

"A necrotic potion from the Tombstone School," Kayneth said indifferently. At the same time, he quickly manipulated the Volumen Hydrargyrum to open a defense once more, while Fou narrowed its eyes and licked its paw.

"Necrotic?" Rimuru raised his hand, looking at his gradually paling skin, feeling slightly stunned.

"It can put you into a state similar to a living corpse for a short period—considering your magic resistance, it should last about twenty minutes, I suppose?" As if seeing Rimuru's astonishment, Kayneth continued: "It will cause your body to lose its vitality, meaning you won't feel pain or lose function, and you won't suffer from fatal wounds either. Even if you only have a mouth left, you could still bite the enemy to death—but when the effect ends, if you haven't received effective treatment, you will still die as you were meant to."

"Although Achelotte might have better potions to save you, it's obviously not a good choice to let her know about this. You'll just have to bear with using my limited stock for now."

His heart gradually stopped beating, and his blood ceased to circulate... Rimuru was astonished to find that as his cells lost all vitality, his collapsing will seemed to disappear along with that activity... or rather, the collapse was still ongoing, but Rimuru could no longer feel it.

A very strong effect... Is this... what a potion is?

Feeling his body recover and seemingly have no problems for the time being, Rimuru suddenly understood on a deeper level why it was said that a well-prepared magus was almost invincible.

Even against a Primate Murder, a powerful magus with sufficient preparation could easily shatter the opponent's greatest ability!

As for why Kayneth had such a potion, Rimuru was not surprised; after all, the Department of Necromancy was one of the three major branches under the Department of Spiritual Evocation.

Seeing that Rimuru was out of immediate danger, the familiar circling in the sky slowly landed on the wall beside Rimuru and turned toward the Dead Apostle Ancestor, who was quietly squatting to the side: "According to the data shared by The Church, although we don't know how long the opponent's ability lasts, it cannot be cast on the same person twice in a short time. Therefore, if the time is short enough..."

"Interesting, Fou. Do you think I would be defeated by a guy who only knows how to hide?"

Hearing this, Fou, who had relaxed after seeing Rimuru return to normal, spoke with feigned arrogance: "Even if that so-called potion is as useful as you say, it only delays the time of your death. Briefly abandoning a body that is 'already dead' to fight by force is, in my eyes, nothing more than a death struggle."

"Indeed, but if this death struggle can take you down with us, that is also a good choice." Kayneth sneered, and dozens of Wangliang slowly crawled out from the surrounding shadows, roaring, which made Fou take a slight step back: "You have absolute lethality against humans, but what about evil spirits?"

"Fou..." Fou bared its sharp fangs coldly but remained silent—it didn't care much about these evil spirits, but its mission was already complete. Now, it was considering how to end this and retreat. Should it feign weakness? But due to its pride, it was still somewhat conflicted internally—

If it could, it wanted to directly kill this magus whose tone was extremely unpleasant. After all, he had already given the potion to Rimuru, so he was of no further use. But no matter how it searched for his location, it couldn't get an effective response or perception. The opponent had clearly used some kind of concealment magecraft or even a bounded field, pushing caution and deviousness to the extreme.

At this moment, Rimuru glanced at Kayneth's familiar, and seeing the evil spirits and the Volumen Hydrargyrum that hadn't taken the initiative to attack, he mostly guessed Kayneth's intentions and chuckled inwardly, knowing it was his turn to step in.

He could clearly perceive Kayneth's position. Although the opponent had set up a large amount of concealment magecraft, assuming the Dead Apostles had sensory types, they couldn't hide from Rimuru and the Great Sage, who had enveloped the entire Cornwall in thick fog.

But clearly, at least in Rimuru's heart, Kayneth shouldn't die here—

"Cough, cough..." Although the necrotic state had removed all his physical discomfort, the feedback from his cold body made him feel somewhat unaccustomed: "How about we both take a step back?"

"Fou?" Fou turned its head in confusion, only to hear Rimuru chuckle and spread his hands: "Although fighting to the death at this moment to help the Association eliminate an enemy is indeed noble, I care more about my own life than merit. Can you understand that, Lord Kayneth?"

"Of course." Hearing this, Kayneth's familiar nodded faintly: "I am only here to support you. You are still the captain of this unit, and you have the right to make decisions, Lord Rimuru."

After all, traditional magi, as beings where egoism runs rampant, are roughly divided into two factions. One is the traditional family-type magus among the Twelve Lords, similar to Tohsaka Tokiomi, who values the honor of magi and their lineage while pursuing the path of magic, even willing to sacrifice their lives for it.

The other is like Matou Zouken or Tsimiya. The former stops at nothing to pursue their ideals, while the latter, in order to pursue the path of magic, went as far as to transform himself into one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors. They all have one thing in common: lineage and honor are not important to them, because in their view, only by staying alive can they continue to pursue what they want. Thus, they value life above all else, even placing the reason for living in second place—a kind of alternative, extreme egoism.

Magi who hold this view are not in the minority; they could even be considered one of the mainstream. But as long as the purpose of staying alive is to pursue the supreme path of magic and Akasha, they are still considered to be on the "right path" in their eyes.

Therefore, he understood Rimuru's thinking. Although the potions of the Tombstone School were powerful, such potions that could forcibly delay fatal wounds were expensive and difficult to refine. Moreover, potions like this would develop drug resistance in a short time. Even if he had many, the effect would disappear completely after three doses.

This was common knowledge for all magi, and he believed Rimuru knew it too. So, although he acted tough, not letting the evil spirits attack was already a hint to Rimuru that his intention was also primarily to retreat. However, as a support person, simply showing weakness would only make the hound pursue them without hesitation—but fortunately, Rimuru did not disappoint him and cooperated very well.

"Then, Lord Primate Murder." Rimuru turned to Fou and said calmly: "If I'm not mistaken, your order was just to block us, right? Although killing us is the best choice, but... in the face of two Lords, do you really want us to fight to the death?"

"..."

"I have fifteen minutes left." Rimuru chuckled: "And the sounds of fighting in the distance tell me that our troops should have already started their attack. At this time, can you really call for reinforcements? I admit you might be able to stop my retreat and forcibly hold me for fifteen minutes so I can't receive treatment, but... I can also guarantee that my fight to the death will take you down with me—"

"You are threatening me..."

"I just want to survive—and even if I receive treatment, I won't be able to return to the battlefield for a short time... but you could be immediately freed to head to the front lines. I don't think I need to remind you where your abilities would be better utilized, right?"

"Fou..." Hearing this, Fou narrowed its eyes. If it didn't know the other party was acting, it would have felt like it was truly being persuaded...

No wonder its master was fooled by him so thoroughly... But... to let it go to the front lines to sabotage its own companions, this damn bastard... is he really standing on the side of humanity?!

It remained silent for a moment, until it heard a "that's enough" from Rimuru in its mind. Only then did it nod, cast a cold glance at the mercury liquid floating slightly up and down, and slowly retreated into the shadows. The next moment, the surrounding Dead Apostles also slowly retreated. As the bloody aura gradually dissipated, Rimuru finally let out a sigh of relief, collapsed against the wall, and fell to the ground with a thud—

"Well said... and here I thought I'd have to step out and fight." Kayneth's faint voice came through, accompanied by a light chuckle: "Though, your choice of words really does a disservice to your reputation, Professor."

"I am merely making the most effective statement possible." Rimuru said weakly: "Is it confirmed to have left? You must be careful; it might not necessarily head for the front lines. It could be coming for you instead..."

"I know. My familiar is keeping watch—"

"Also, you need to remind those old men to tell the mages on the front lines not to charge too quickly... I can tell that its ability consumes a lot of stamina. Just let the people from The Church die to wear it down. There are plenty of them, anyway..." Rimuru leaned against the wall, watching his familiar approach rapidly along with the Volumen Hydrargyrum that was helping him up, and continued nagging: "Is your potion really capable of lasting twenty minutes?"

"Of course it's fake." Kayneth's voice came through the familiar, accompanied by a soft huff: "Five minutes? I thought with your magic resistance, it would wear off in about three."

After saying this, the familiar handed over another potion: "This is the last one. I hope we can make it back within three minutes—"

"As long as we don't run into other Ancestors, it should be fine..." Rimuru drank the potion once more, barely managing to stand up to follow the Evil Spirits clearing the path ahead, then suddenly asked: "What about the mages who came with me?"

"Do you always talk this much when you're about to die?" Kayneth replied with dissatisfaction, though his tone turned somber: "When I arrived, I only found one dying Priest and two mages. As for the others... I am sorry."

"...Ah, is that so?" Rimuru sighed helplessly: "I suppose there was no helping it—"

As the words fell, both of them fell silent. Kayneth needed to focus entirely on guarding the surroundings while remotely controlling the Volumen Hydrargyrum and the Evil Spirits to clear away the Living Corpses and Ghouls that appeared, while Rimuru was simply exhausted, his body weak and his emotions caught up in the act.

Because the maximum effective range of Kayneth's Volumen Hydrargyrum was limited, Rimuru only had to follow it for a few hundred meters before seeing Kayneth, who had already packed up his position and was preparing to retreat. He stood as straight as ever, his German-style trench coat draped over his sharp-featured, lemon-shaped hair... and that chin held high, used for looking down on others.

The moment he saw that figure, Rimuru felt relieved—the more one understood a Lord, the more one realized their strength and terror. Rimuru had long since stopped underestimating him based on the "incompetence" of the original work, feeling a genuine sense of security instead—the plan should be fine; this clone would definitely be brought back safely by him!

And so, he decided to make the act real, tilted his head, and passed out.

"Great Sage, keep a portion of my consciousness to handle the functions of this body. Don't let it actually die..."

"Understood!"

The next moment, Rimuru's consciousness shifted instantly. As he opened his eyes, he saw a church reduced to ruins, burning fiercely, with blood, severed limbs, and corpses everywhere.

Amidst the jolting, the blue slime faintly heard that deep voice.

"You've arrived? How is it over there?"

"Not bad. The Church has launched an attack." Rimuru responded. He raised his eyes to look at the owner of the voice—the tall, imposing, white-haired White Winged Duke: "And here?"

"There has been almost no decent resistance." The White Winged Duke dragged his magnificent greatsword and slowly sat upon the church as if it were his throne: "By the time the next dawn arrives, there will not be a single church or Executor left in all of Austria."

"That will do." Rimuru nodded: "I will try my best to hold out until the next dawn."

In the night, an endless army of Dead Apostles galloped across the ravaged plains. The overwhelming number of vampires swept through one small town, city, and village after another under the blood-red moonlight...

Just as the White Winged Duke said, when the sun rose over one region, another would enter the sunset.

This is the world, an immutable law.

Nebula M78 756365104

PS: Yesterday's chapter was wrong... but it shouldn't matter, right? ╮(╯_╰)╭

Thanks to Luo Ying for the tip and everyone for the support, hehe, love you all!

Chapter 066: The So-Called Frontline Crisis

After checking the situation on the White Winged Duke's side, Rimuru did not linger. After all, what remained there was merely a split body acting as a megaphone-like familiar. Even if he watched more, it wouldn't change the situation in Austria. On the contrary, the Cornwall Peninsula was his true stage.

When Rimuru fully regained his senses and returned to his main body, he could still feel waves of weakness emanating from deep within. Even though he had cut the connection with the clone as much as possible, had Fou's ability still slightly affected his main body?

"They have already broken through the outskirts of Cornwall, Leviathan." A melodic voice carried a hint of worry. Rimuru opened his eyes to see Altrouge standing before him, her blood-red eyes fixed on him: "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Rimuru took a deep breath and stood up: "So fast? I knew that nearly 500,000 Living Corpses and Ghouls couldn't stop the elite forces, but they can't even hold back 50,000 Church troops?"

"The Living Corpses are doing better, but the frenzied Ghouls cannot even fight in an orderly fashion. The Cornwall region is full of hills, completely unsuitable for siege tactics, and furthermore... the Mage Association's familiar tactics are also a headache. The Lord of Sand alone is enough to wipe out tens of thousands of Ghouls." Altrouge said softly: "Do you need me to release my elites? Those tens of thousands of Dead Apostles converted from ordinary people are probably not as good as these hundreds of thousands of beasts."

"What about the White Winged Duke? He isn't plotting anything, is he?"

"Probably not... at least in such a critical battle, he wouldn't be foolish enough to take unnecessary risks." Having said that, Rimuru turned around, his eyes beneath the mask turning scarlet. Beneath the pristine white knight's uniform, aside from his petite frame and blue-silver hair, there was not a trace of resemblance left: "Let's go. It's about time we went out to take a look. Your Highness has been cooped up for a long time, right?"

"Oh, right, send a familiar to the canyon in the back... see if Fim is dead or not. If he's still alive, tell him to hurry back—his castle dolls are quite useful in this kind of war."

The Cornwall Peninsula is bordered by the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the north, facing Wales across the water, with only the northeast side connected to the mainland. This meant the Dead Apostles only faced direct pressure from that one direction—but because of that, the pressure on the front was the greatest, not just from The Church's offensive, but also from the pressure originating in London.

One must know that the reason occupying Cornwall was considered a slap in the face to London was precisely because London was... very, very close to Cornwall.

According to Rimuru's initial speculation, the Mage Association had likely divided Cornwall into three offensive sectors: the naval landing on the north coast, the frontal suppression, and the final pincer attack from behind the English Channel to cut off their retreat.

For Rimuru, who had already turned Cornwall into a dead zone, he didn't care about the side attacks or the threat of infiltration. After all, even if they got in, all they could destroy were the Ghouls and Living Corpses scattered across the mountains, and those 30,000-plus Dead Apostles that Rimuru only appeared to value.

But regardless, once they fully invaded the heart of the peninsula, they would surely realize this and react—which was not what Rimuru wanted to see.

As of now, the only one who had infiltrated the city, survived, and discovered the truth was likely Kotomine Kirei, and he was currently being hunted by Her Highness Altrouge.

Overall, there didn't seem to be any flaws, yet even so, Rimuru still felt uneasy, as if he had forgotten something.

Thus, he decided to strike early instead of continuing to act as that Demon Lord hiding in the castle.

The crimson young moon shone upon the earth, its dark red light reflecting on the sea, casting ripples of red. Suddenly, Rimuru, who was flying silently behind Altrouge, asked: "Come to think of it, can vampires use magic power to create blood?"

"If we could create blood with magic power, would Dead Apostles still need to go everywhere looking for blood to suck?" Altrouge rolled her eyes, a rare sight, and asked again: "Are you really okay? I feel like your brain has been fried."

"I'm not talking about that kind of blood that can be converted into magic power and life force, containing the Great Source." Rimuru pointed at the rolling, red-tinted waves on the sea: "I mean something like a materialized attack method created purely with magic power?"

"It exists, but it's usually something like a Reality Marble, caused by the erosion and distortion of the world. You're a mage; you should know that the essence of magic is distortion."

"Then can you create it on a large scale?" Rimuru asked, and he saw Altrouge remain silent for a moment before saying: "I can, but that would require me to completely unleash my power... what are you trying to do?"

Hearing this, Rimuru pointed toward the horizon, where the large armies were locked in slaughter, slowly advancing. In front of them, various familiars, shining holy light from church rituals, and the support of sacred chanting choirs were wreaking havoc everywhere.

"I want to increase the difficulty for them, and this is one of the ways I can ensure my hold over them: my massive mana reserves and my talent for absorbing mana during combat." Rimuru casually condensed a small water figure and said, "But if I use water, it's easy to expose myself, so blood is actually my best disguise. Although there's no shortage of blood on the battlefield, it's clearly a bit too scarce right now."

Every pounce from the Ghouls and Living Corpses couldn't even inflict the slightest bit of damage on the Executors and nuns. Even when they managed to succeed for a brief moment by relying on sheer numbers, healing magecraft would instantly follow up to mend the wounds—though one could theoretically grind them down with an endless supply of fodder, reinforcement magecraft already had a low cost, not to mention the fact that the opposition was supported by the Mage's Association's potions and mana furnaces.

His own troops were weaker than Rimuru had expected, or rather, Rimuru had indeed overestimated these low-quality forces made from ordinary people. This led to a slight deviation in the battlefield situation. Rimuru didn't like this deviation, so he intended to replenish his forces; at the very least, they needed to serve their intended purpose.

"But if that's the case, since I've already unleashed my power, wouldn't it be better to just smash them with a big ultimate move?" Altrouge gestured with her hands. One must know that just as an alchemist might spend hundreds of millions to transmute gold worth 500, magecraft was originally magic, and the essence of magic was to achieve miracles impossible for humans through distortion. Although most things can now be achieved through different means, the essence remains unchanged—the reason mages have many powerful familiars is because they borrow mana furnaces and various materials, essentially using mana to transform external objects into usable tools.

If Rimuru were to directly use water to release a large number of water clones or construct familiars, it wouldn't be a problem. But if he needed her to first use distortion to turn mana into blood, and then hand it over to him for secondary casting to turn them into familiars... that would be equivalent to paying several times the cost to achieve one goal. In Altrouge's eyes, this was clearly not worth the loss.

Rimuru naturally understood this logic, so after hearing Altrouge's reply, he quickly dismissed the plan to have Altrouge unleash her power. Cornwall was not a place that required a desperate, mutually destructive struggle, and it was too close to London, with too many mages around... If they really went all out, not to mention whether they could win, even if the opposition were defeated, they still had a retreat route backed by London. This didn't align with Rimuru's plans at all.

The Mage's Association's preparations would only become more sufficient as time passed, and the Church's forces on the front line were merely an advance party from Western Europe... However, just like the hesitation the White Winged Duke showed when hearing the words "Western Europe," both understood that the true threat to the Dead Apostles—and the most powerful force of the Mage's Association—was actually in the southeastern region of Europe. The Western European countries of England, France, and Germany were regions completely dominated by the Mage's Association!

The Church still had troops held in reserve, clearly intending to cut off Rimuru's retreat, but wasn't Rimuru doing the same?

Once the White Winged Duke finished clearing out Austria and turned back to march west from Germany, it was hard to say who would end up cutting off whose retreat.

Thus, Rimuru hesitated for a moment, silently sensing the situation on the battlefield within the thick fog. He looked at the sparse, scattered bloodstains on the ground, most of which came from the Dead Apostles and Living Corpses... Finally, he looked coldly at the Ghouls still crawling and roaring in the mountain wilderness outside.

"Then, this is the only way."

"Hmm?" Altrouge looked up slightly and saw Rimuru gently raise his hand. Along with his raised hand, clear liquid began to seep slowly from the earth. He watched as they slowly swirled, forming a giant, meat-grinder-like entity that began to slowly constrict the outer perimeter of the city for several square kilometers... Suddenly, she understood, and said in astonishment:

"You intend to..."

"I intend to put waste to good use." Rimuru lowered his eyes and clenched his fist abruptly!

The next moment, tens of thousands of Ghouls and Living Corpses were violently gathered from the plains by the swirling curtain of clear water. With a screeching sound, they were completely ground into endless fragments by the water flow, dyeing the towering vortex into a giant wave of crimson blood!

Immediately following, the giant wave subsided, crashing onto the flat ground with a boom and flowing everywhere. In an instant, the area within a few kilometers was completely cleared out by Rimuru!

"Is it worth it?" Altrouge opened her small mouth slightly. She didn't feel any so-called sympathy; after all, Ghouls were inherently mindless dead things. But seeing a dense mass of troops vanish in an instant, the visual impact made the corner of her mouth twitch slightly, feeling a bit of heartache.

"My mana can condense thousands of water clones." Rimuru let go of his hand, letting it hang down indifferently. At this moment, the sea of blood on the ground also began to slowly condense. One after another, faceless, ghost-like blood figures formed—in an instant, the dense mass of crimson figures, accompanied by the blood waves still surging beneath their feet, occupied the entire plain like water elementals.